I have a Lionel 85267 Niagara purchased soon after they were released that I had been running on my layout for a long time. I removed the shell and replaced the smoke wadding in both the stack and blow off smoke. When I placed it back on the track, the blow off smoke would not shut off. I removed the shell again and removed the plug from the blow off generator. The engine continued to run ok but without blow off smoke. I sent this engine for repair to a well known service station that I will not name in this post. They had the engine for over a year and I spoke with the service person at least six times during that time. He related to me problems getting the right boards, and boards that worked and this was why it was taking so long. Finally, I asked to have it returned to me and it was suggested I return it to Lionel.
I wrote Lionel about it and told them the above story and asked to return it to them for repair. No Reply!
I the mean time, I tried running the engine and found that it ran and responded to Legacy signals but neither smoked or made any sounds. Different situation than before.
I called Lionel service and related the above story. They suggested another repair service station and told me they could not repair out of warrenty products. I took it to a second repair station and related all the above details. After a few weeks, I got a call from them that they could not fix it and I should contact Lionel.
I am open to suggestions about what to do here. Sell it as is to someone who could get it running? Phil
